Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas is not giving up on its appeal to get Jordan Clarkson eligible to join the Philippines national basketball team as the country prepares for the 2023 FIBA World Cup.

“We continue to press it,” SBP president Al Panlilio said in an interview on “Power and Play”.

The national governing body for the sport also wants to include Barangay Ginebra's Christian Standhardinger and Stanley Pringle.

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“Kasi we have gotten some information that some (players) may mga passports na nakuha (who have gotten their passports) beyond 16 for some reason and we wanna understand what has happened there so we’re looking at other situations that can help us and aid us,” Panlilio added.

Based on FIBA rules, a player is required to have obtained a passport of the country they seek to play for before turning 16.

“But at the end of the day, these guys are Filipinos so we just have to continue to push our justification to FIBA,” Panlilio said.

Gilas was drawn with arch-nemesis South Korea, New Zealand and India in Group A of the World Cup qualifiers.

Based on the schedule released on Saturday, the Philippines will play Korea on November 25 and November 28. Gilas will next take on India on February 25, 2022, then take on New Zealand February 28.

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Gilas will again go up against India on June 30, 2022, then battle New Zealand on July 3.

Panlilio said the main problem for Gilas Pilipinas is securing players' commitment, some of whom will be coming from the PBA.

"We still have to discuss this but it's going to be a struggle also really for us to keep the team together, that's the challenge. We will work closely with Tab (Baldwin) and we're working for a full-year program or beyond this on how we can calendar all of this. We have so many things to do in keeping the team together. 'Yan talaga ang problema natin," he said.

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